


Losing Battle

by Aelaer



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hurt Stephen Strange, Major Character Injury, Prompt Fill, stephen whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 10:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22968334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelaer/pseuds/Aelaer
Summary: The conflict lasted for weeks. The battle to finally end it had gone on for hours. Stephen didn’t remember the last time he slept more than three hours. He was unfit to fight in his current state, but he was needed and he would not sit out, no matter their pleading.In such a state, it was only a matter of time before he made a fatal mistake.
Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1479815
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	Losing Battle

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by amethyst-noir on tumblr and her Corner Anon’s ask with the prompt about Stephen’s hands getting hurt/bound in battle. Corner Anon kills Stephen. Amy saves Stephen. This ficlet leaves the outcome ambiguous.
> 
> I need to write a battle scene in a longer fic and it’s not coming so this was some practice and to try and get my writing muses going again. Unpolished and unbeta'ed. Posted originally on tumblr.
> 
> Warning for heavy bodily injury and some body horror (no missing limbs, but still not pretty).

The conflict lasted for weeks. The battle to finally end it had gone on for hours. Stephen didn’t remember the last time he slept more than three hours. He was unfit to fight in his current state, but he was needed and he would not sit out, no matter their pleading.

In such a state, it was only a matter of time before he made a fatal mistake.

The demonic entity, one of the leaders of this crusade against Earth, blocked and parried everything Stephen threw at him and slowly chipped at his remaining defenses until his next blow caused Stephen to stumble to his knees. Before the Cloak could help him up, the demon threw one of its black shards it spawned out of seemingly nothing to pin the edge of the garment to the ground.

The Cloak detached from him to let him free, and Stephen managed to parry another black shard with a shield and toss another away with a whip as he struggled to get off his knees and get some distance between them while the Cloak worked to free itself.

But the demon then caught the edge of the Eldritch whip before it fully dissipated and yanked it with a force great enough to send Stephen to the ground. His head hit the hard, rocky dirt and dazed him for half a second.

That was more than enough time for the demon to make its move.

Without warning, a coursing agony shot from Stephen’s right hand and overtook every sense in his body. His sight whited out and he felt bile gather at the back of his throat. He tried not to heave, tried to get up, but the small amount of movement caused the pain to flare again up his arm and this time he did vomit up bile and water.

He glanced to his right and caught the horrifying glimpse of one of the black shards pinning his right hand to the ground. The jagged rock had a circumference of at least an inch, causing untold damage to his already ruined hand. He sobbed at the sight, at the agony.

The demon sent another two shards at the Cloak to pin it down further before crossing the short distance between them. Stephen groaned and placed a shield around himself with his free hand, then quickly decided to take the risk and lift the shard out of the ground and portal to another part of the field, any part of the field, hopefully closer to friends and allies.

He didn’t get the chance. The demon broke the weaker shield before the long shard was fully out of the ground and kicked him in the head, forcing him to again be flat upon his back and causing him to yank his arm against the shard. Stephen’s cry was strangled, broken.

It looked at him in amusement, then shoved a heavy foot into his left arm until it stood upon his left wrist, leaving Stephen fully exposed, like a specimen pinned for study. The demon applied pressure, and the sorcerer cried out when his left wrist snapped under its weight. His vision grew black and fuzzy at the edges.

As Stephen’s vision faded, he caught the demon smiling down at him as it drew another black spike from the ether. “You die, now,” were the last words he heard before he lost his grasp on consciousness.


End file.
